FOXBORO, Mass. — We know the New England Patriots planned to use both of their quarterbacks during Monday’s primetime matchup with the Chicago Bears.
Bill Belichick communicated that to Mac Jones, who, based on his convincing postgame comments, was in the loop and on board. Rookie backup Bailey Zappe was informed, too, though not of exactly when he would enter. The head coach also filled in several ESPN employees, with Adam Schefter hinting at a possible two-QB plan before the game and “Monday Night Football” announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman mentioning it at the start of Jones’ third series.
“I know when you talked to Bill Belichick during the course of the week, his intention was to likely see both quarterbacks,” Buck told Aikman on the game broadcast. “So at some point, we’ll see No. 4 (Zappe). And with the way this game has started, it may be sooner rather than later.”
“Yeah, the reason was because of the ankle, as to how (Jones) was feeling,” Aikman added. “But you kind of get the feeling if something doesn’t happen here real soon, we may see (Zappe) much sooner.”
Minutes later, Jones, who’d gone three-and-out on his first two drives, threw an ugly interception while targeting tight end Jonnu Smith and was removed from the game. Zappe relieved him and played the rest of the way, leading two rapid-fire touchdown drives but quickly fading as the Patriots’ offensive momentum disintegrated. New England went scoreless on its final five possessions (lost fumble, three-and-out, three-and-out, interception, interception) as Justin Fields and the underdog Bears cruised to a 33-14 win at Gillette Stadium.
Now, more than 24 hours removed from that baffling loss, a simple question remains unanswered: Why?
What was Belichick hoping to accomplish with this borderline unprecedented quarterback approach? What would the ideal outcome have been? Jones lighting it up for a few drives, then taking a seat and giving Zappe his turn, then coming back into the game at some point after halftime, as Belichick said he would have had the score not gotten “out of hand”?
NFL teams have used multiple QBs when one has a distinctly different skill set. The New Orleans Saints do it with Taysom Hill. The Baltimore Ravens did it with Lamar Jackson before he took over as their full-time starter. Jacoby Brissett was a QB sneak specialist during his time with Miami. Those are just a few recent examples. There’s also precedent for dressing an injured starting quarterback as an emergency backup, with the intention of using him only in the worst-case scenario.
But what the Patriots did Monday night rarely is seen outside of college football or the NFL preseason, when player development and evaluation take precedence over on-field results. Belichick clearly believed they could get away with such shenanigans against a Bears team that had looked like one of the NFL’s worst, and that proved to be a major miscalculation.
Their defense was demolished, Jones had to endure deafening boos and calls for his job from his home fans, and neither QB performed especially well, leaving New England with, somehow, more questions at its most important position than it had during the mystery-shrouded leadup to this game. Belichick also risked locker room discontent by not cluing many of the team’s key offensive players into his unorthodox plan.
Belichick has declined to publicly explain the reasoning behind that plan, leaving fans and media members to speculate. But it’s clear he did not believe Jones had recovered to the point that he could handle a full-game workload.
Asked Tuesday whether Jones would start on the road this week against the New York Jets if healthy, Belichick called that a “hypothetical question,” implying the QB is not, in fact, healthy. He evoked the same phrase when asked whether Jones was healthy enough to play the entire Bears game. When a reporter pointed out that Jones seemed to be moving well on his three scrambles for 24 yards, the coach replied: “Right, yeah. But that wasn’t 70 plays.”
As an aside, Belichick’s refusal over these last two weeks to say Jones will start when healthy is a stark contrast to how he handled the Patriots’ quarterback situation in 2020. Back then, he repeatedly stated Cam Newton was the team’s starter even as Newton consistently struggled and was benched three times for Jarrett Stidham.
If the Patriots didn’t believe Jones could be a full-time player Monday night, why play him at all? Why not give him an extra week to heal up and continue rolling with Zappe, who’d won each of his first two NFL starts in Jones’ absence? The uber-competitive Jones might not have liked that approach — it was clear the fanbase already had gone full-on nutty for his backup, and another win on national TV would’ve only fueled that fire — but it would have been a reasonable one.
Again, Belichick hasn’t shared his rationale, other than the usual platitudes about doing what he believed was best for the team. But one working theory is that Jones lobbied Belichick to let him play against Chicago, and the coach acquiesced, under the condition that he’d split time with Zappe.
ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio reported before the game that the Patriots had “some concern about the aggravation of the injury” that had kept Jones out for the last month, but that Jones “persuaded Belichick to give (him) a chance to play.” Going off that report, NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran said he believed Belichick was “appeasing Mac Jones’ requests and pressuring him to play” while also giving the 24-year-old an opportunity to knock off some accumulated rust ahead of what’s suddenly a massively important AFC East matchup.
Had the Patriots given the Bears the beatdown that many expected, perhaps this plan would have worked out fine. Of course, that didn’t happen. Jones now faces immense pressure to perform against the Jets — assuming he is deemed healthy enough to do so — amid a raging QB quagmire that Belichick himself created.
